Storm

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  I started to worry that I would die the same way my grandmother and mother had died, alone in an institution at a young age. That was a few years ago. Slowly, I started to dig through my family history to try and come up with something, anything that would give me answers. Now, here I was, living in an insane asylum of my own doing.

  I looked around the room one last time and decided to give up for now. It was getting dark and the lighting was bad in this area of the building. I was just leaving when I thought I heard a whisper. Spinning around, I looked all over the room for any signs of a ghost. As much as I liked to play up my bravery, it was creepy as hell to know that there were ghosts wandering around the building. I wouldn’t say that I was terrified, but there had been a few times that I almost pissed myself when I felt the chill of a ghost passing in front of me. Okay, I was fucking creeped out staying here.

  The curtain by the window moved slightly, drawing my attention to that corner of the room. Swallowing down my fear, I took a few hesitant steps in that direction.

  It’s fine. It’s probably nothing. Just a draft. It’s an old house and old houses are just like that.

  I nodded to myself as I repeated it over and over in my head. My hand shook as I reached forward to draw back the curtain. I could see that it was hanging in a straight line, so I didn’t even understand what I was nervous about. I yanked back the curtain and sucked in a deep breath when I saw nothing was there.

  “See? It was just a breeze.” Then I looked at the window and shrugged. “Not that the window is leaking air, but whatever.”

  I could see where the hook in the wall for the curtains had moved from its original position because of the noticeable stain on the wall. It was old and had probably needed to be repaired twenty years ago. I shifted it back to its original position, jumping when I heard the wall to my right creaking. Stepping back, I watched with unbelieving eyes as the wall opened up just enough for a single person to fit through. There was a tunnel beyond with so many spider webs that I seriously considered having myself committed for thinking of going in there.

  There were no lights in the tunnel, so I flicked on the flashlight featured on my phone and held it high so I could see. The ground was all dirt and the walls were so discolored that I couldn’t see what they were made of unless I touched them, which I wasn’t going to. With a pounding heart, I stepped into the tunnel and slowly made my way deeper inside. I was only about ten feet into the tunnel when I heard a sliding noise. I spun around and saw that the door was shutting, locking me inside. I tried to block it with my body, but it wouldn’t stop moving and my boobs and ass were too big to squeeze through the space that was left.

  I pulled my body back into the tunnel and felt along the walls for a latch of some kind, but there was nothing. Turning around slowly, I half expected a ghost to pop out at me, but nothing was there. The only way out was to continue forward.

  “It’s okay. This is perfectly normal. You’re just walking in a tunnel that hasn’t been used in like forty years, but that’s okay. It’s not like I’ll meet anyone in here,” I chuckled to myself. “Not alive anyway. Oh God, I hope there aren’t any skeletons in here.”

  I kept moving through the tunnel, praying that I found another way out sooner rather than later.

  “What if this is like The Temple of Doom and the walls start caving in if I pull a lever or something?” I snorted to myself. “That was in a rock structure. This is a building and the walls aren’t going to collapse on me. I’m totally fine.”

  I came across a tunnel that turned right and stopped, trying to decide if I should go right or straight. I tried to map out the house in my mind, but fear was blocking all thoughts from making sense. I could feel the fear building like a bubble in my throat and I didn’t know if I was going to throw up or swallow it down. Something brushed against my neck and I froze, not even breathing the slightest bit.

  I closed my eyes and counted to ten to calm myself. I was fine. Everything was fine. There was nothing behind me. It was a spider web. A sliver of tension ran down my spine that was so painful I knew this wasn’t my imagination. Slowly, ignoring the hammering in my chest, I turned my head to the right. A translucent hand rested on my shoulder. I raised my eyes and looked straight through a ghostly white figure with soulless eyes.

  “Ah!” I screamed and took off down the tunnel as fast as I could. I kept glancing back, but fear and desperation to get out had me seeing wisps of white everywhere. A huge array of spiderwebs blocked my path and covered my face as I plowed through. It only fueled my fear further. Running and spluttering as I tried to pull the cobwebs from me, I dropped my phone to the floor and slammed back against a wall as I tried to regain control.

  “What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?” I muttered in a screechy tone over and over again. “Stop, drop, and roll,” I said quickly, then smacked myself in the head. “Stupid, that’s if you’re on fire. What do you do for panic attacks brought on by ghosts?”

  A noise to the left had me stiffening where I was now crouched down against the wall. Feeling around on the ground for my phone, I finally felt it and snatched it up in my hand. Taking a few quick, deep breaths, I stumbled to my feet and propelled myself forward. I ran for what felt like at least five minutes, but was more like thirty seconds. I didn’t even see the wall ahead of me until I slammed into it at full speed.

  “Come on, come on!” I said as I pushed all over the wall, feeling creeping things under my fingers that would give me nightmares for weeks. The noises grew louder behind me, turning to scratching and moaning sounds. It was like someone was yelling for help. I found a latch and yanked on it, stumbling out into the kitchen just as the door started to slide shut again.

  Huffing on the floor, I stared into the dim light of the kitchen. I was okay. I hadn’t died in there and no one had actually attacked me. But I didn’t find a damn thing either. I had gone through all of that and had nothing to show for it. Now that I knew where one tunnel was, I had to find them all. They had to lead somewhere, probably to a place that would give me some clue as to what actually happened here.

  “Are you okay?”

  My head snapped up at the sound of the male voice. It was Storm, not a ghost. Thank God, I didn’t think I could take a second near-heart attack today.

  “Of course. I was just…” What was a rational way to explain this? “I was in a room and the curtain moved and I thought I saw a ghost. I pulled this metal thing and a door slid open and then I was running through a tunnel and ghosts were touching me and I ran into a wall and now here I am.”

  I was huffing by the time I was done with my explanation and he was staring at me like I was fucking crazy.

  “Why did you go into the tunnel?” he finally asked.

  “Because I-” I didn’t want to tell him what I was looking for yet. It was crazy enough to be looking into this. After all, it had happened to my grandparents. Was it really worth looking into now? Was it worth all this? “I was curious.”

  “Right,” he nodded slightly. “So, that’s why you’re covered in cobwebs and shit.”

  “Well, I think the last time the tunnels were used was over forty years ago.”

  “You could have gotten hurt. You shouldn’t go through the tunnels alone. No one would know if something happened to you.”

  “You mean if a ghost got to me?” I said sarcastically.

  “Well, since ghosts aren’t real, I would say something more along the lines of you falling and hurting yourself.”

  “You don’t know that ghosts aren’t real. I think some really bad stuff happened here.”

  “Like what?”

  Shit. I clamped my mouth shut and stood, brushing the dirt from my outfit. “Was there something that you needed?”

  “I just dropped a few things off and wanted to let you know that we’ll be back in the morning.”

  “Good. It’ll be nice to have other people in the house, besides the ghosts.” I tried for a smile, but failed. He looked at me s
trangely and headed for the door. He was so good looking, a little surly since the whole thing about ghosts came up, but hot none-the-less. In fact, his somewhat cranky demeanor was a turn on. Why was that? Was it better to be wanted by a bad boy that could melt your panties, but leave you high and dry, or want the man that was good and gave slightly worse orgasms?

  I sighed and headed for my bedroom. These were all things to think about at another time. I had a mystery to solve and it wouldn’t be long before someone caught onto my digging and tried to shut me down.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Storm

  “Here’s your key for the front door and here’s your key for you room,” Jessica said as she handed over the ring, complete with a creepy, metal house keyring.

  “Great,” I grumbled, trying for happy over feeling like I was getting the shitty end of the deal. I was giving up a comfortable bed, handpicked by Chance, the pickiest sleeper of all, for this rundown, shitty place that just barely had running water. I’d better be getting one hell of a blow job out of this. “Which room will I be staying in?”

  “Um, I picked the two best rooms in the place. I’ve only been here a few weeks, so I really haven’t had much time for renovating. I had some beds delivered this morning and I’ll have some bedding by the end of the day. I’m afraid they aren’t the best accommodations.”

  “I’ve slept in the sand and on rocks before. I think I can handle a drafty, old house. Unless, you wanted to join me in my room. I’m sure that having you in my bed would make my stay very accommodating.”

  “Where do you come up with all these lines? Do you have a book that you carry around in your back pocket or something?”

  “When you work with a bunch of men, you hear pretty much every bad line any one has ever used.”

  “And you just decided to test them out on me?”

  “Hey, in the bar, I gave you a real line. That wasn’t some shit I picked up from any asshole. That was all mine.” I shrugged and gave her my best smile. “I figured if you didn’t like the real thing, you might like the cheesy lines.”

  She blushed a little and averted her eyes. I was getting to her. Now I just had to hold on with both hands. “Well, I did like the line in the bar. You do good work.”

  I gave a slight shrug. “I’m no photographer, but I could picture the two of us together.”

  That earned another chuckle from her. She turned and headed for the stairs. I watched as her ass swayed from step to step and barely heard her next words because I was so mesmerized by the sight.

  “It’s a good thing that your lines are halfway decent.”

  “I’m a good observer. It’s better to keep you smiling than angry.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because,” I grinned, having taken many lessons over the past year from my fellow teammates. “Behind every angry woman is a man that has no fucking clue what he did wrong.”

  “I’ve heard that one before too.”

  “Truer words have never been said.”

  She stopped outside my door and tried the key in the lock. When she opened the door, I tried to hold back my grimace.

  “Trust me, this was one of the better rooms. There’s a room down the hall that the doctors used as a preparation room.”

  “Preparation for what?”

  “Lobotomies. Doctors used to think that removing part of the brain would cure the insanity.”

  I cleared my throat uncomfortably, glad that I hadn’t been alive during that time. “Well, glad you didn’t put me in that room.” I looked up at her with a frown. “Or the room where they performed the procedures?”

  “No, that one is a little further down the hall. You’ll recognize that one by the blood stains on the floors.”

  “You’re joking.”

  “Afraid not,” she said lightly.

  “And you’re still staying here? Why?”

  I could tell she was on the verge of saying something, but then Tony fucking Tacos walked into the room and she clammed up.

  “Hey, Ms. Rabbit. How’s the asylum business going?”

  “Ms. Rabbit?” Jessica questioned. I shot him a glare, but he pretended not to notice, turning to me instead with a confused expression.

  “She doesn’t know?”

  “Know what?” Jessica asked.

  “Oh, it’s nothing. Just, you know, your figure is so…amazing. Some would say it’s close to Jessica Rabbit.”

  “The cartoon character?” Jessica asked.

  “Right. Well, Storm is the one that came up with that. I’m not that clever.”

  I growled at him and would have tackled him to the floor and beat the shit out of him if it hadn’t been for Jessica’s response.

  “I’m flattered. It’s not everyday that a woman is compared to a femme fatale cartoon character. But coming from Storm, I’m beginning to see that I shouldn’t be surprised.”

  There was a teasing note in her voice, but I couldn’t tell if she was teasing me to hide her anger or teasing me because she liked me. Hell, this was why I didn’t date women. They were too confusing. And now I had no fucking clue what I was supposed to say in response. If I joked around with her, I would come off as a clueless idiot if she was really mad. And if I tried to apologize when she was teasing, it would look like I couldn’t take a fucking joke. I didn’t know what to do as I stared at her, so I changed tacks.

  “I was wondering if I could install some security around the property. You know, cameras and sensors.”

  “Um, where would you put the cameras?”

  I stared at her mouth as she chewed her lip. Damn, why did I have to be so attracted to her? I had to play the long game with her if I was going to get this property for Reed Security. I didn’t play the long game, which meant that I couldn’t just go and fuck her. Because after I fucked, I turned into an asshole. Kind of like me not knowing if she was teasing or not, I didn’t know how to react the morning after. So, I usually pretended to be in a rush and kicked the woman out.

  I cleared my throat and tried to remember the question. At this point, I had been staring at her mouth for a good fifteen seconds. Just fucking staring. And the longer I thought about how long I was staring, I was adding even more fucking time onto this whole awkward staring moment. I shook my head and walked to the window, pretending to study the perimeter.

  “At entry points and around the outside of the house. Like I said, I work for a security company and I’m a little paranoid. You would have access to the cameras and the feed.”

  “Why would you be paranoid? Are you in danger or something?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing like that. I just like to know when someone’s entering the property when they shouldn’t be.”

  “Won’t that be difficult if we all come and go at different times?”

  She looked to Tony and then me in confusion. At least she wasn’t thinking about coming and going with Tony. The only one she would be coming with was me.

  “There are different codes we can set so that we know who’s coming and going. It would be easy enough for the three of us.”

  “If you think it’s doable. I mean, I’m not sure what will happen to this place when it gets renovated.”

  “Well, in the meantime, a security system would be really good for this place. The estate is so big and you have a lot of land out there. You never know who could come across your property line and get into all your other buildings.”

  She gnawed her lip, looking a little concerned about that. “I don’t really have room in my budget right now.”

  “Free of charge.”

  Tony scoffed beside me, but shut up when I glared at him. Jessica smiled at me warmly, something I wasn’t really expecting. After my flirtatious banter, I had half expected for her to be offended that I had offered it for free. But I was happy to see that she wasn’t going to put up a fight.

  “Alright, I’ll take it. Do you think…” She turned for the hall, shaking her head as she went.

 
“Do I think what?” I asked as I followed.

  “Do you think it could pick up supernatural activity?”

  I stared at her, unsure what to say. What I wanted to say was, Ghosts don’t exist, lady. But that probably wouldn’t make her too happy, and definitely wouldn’t win me any points.

  “You never know,” Tony chimed in, shoving me to the side. He sidled up to Jessica and looked at her earnestly. “I get the feeling there’s something here that you’re looking for. If you need any help, just say the word. I’ll admit, I’m not that enthused about going ghost hunting, but if it means helping you out, just call me. I’ll be here to protect you.”

  That bastard. He was using my own words against me. What the hell? He thought ghosts were real and here he was, offering to help her find ghosts.

  “That’s so sweet of you, Tony. I’ll be sure to let you know if I need anything.”

  She turned and headed down the hall and Tony shot me a smug grin. I punched him in the arm. Before he could respond, Jessica stopped at a door and smiled back at him. I hated that she smiled like that for him. That was my smile a few weeks ago. Hell, that had been my smile yesterday morning and again today. There was no way I was losing this chick to one of my teammates. And I definitely wasn’t going to lose her to Tony Tacos.

  “Tony, this will be your room.”

  I looked inside and laughed. While the room was clean, the walls looked like human outlines were superimposed on the walls. If he woke up in the middle of the night, he would freak the fuck out. I was going to have to be sure to call him around midnight tonight just to hear him scream.

  “This is my room?” Tony’s voice cracked as he looked around the room.

  “I know it doesn’t look like much right now, but with some paint, you’d hardly know that any procedures were performed in here.”

  I watched as Tony swallowed hard and worked to get out his next words. “What kind of procedures?”

  “Lobotomies. From what I understand, it was a very common procedure in the day, a way that doctors assumed could cure a mental illness.”